Gaming terminals, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for many years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the gaming terminal and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning on each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are most likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators constantly strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines available, because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator.
In certain gaming machines, a player receives only a single hand from an electronic deck of cards to form the best-possible poker hand. Generally, the single hand is formed by dealing the player cards in at least two distinct rounds. If a player receives an initial deal of poor cards, the player feels that his chances of winning are greatly reduced because the possibility of improving his hand by discarding and receiving replacement cards is not good. To increase the opportunity to win, players often play multiple hands at the same time. Playing multiple hands increases the chance of at least one of the hands turning-up a winning combination. As a result, a player will perceive a better chance of winning and continue playing the machine. However, playing multiple hands may be confusing for some players and some players may simply prefer to play one hand at a time. Therefore, there is a need for new and improved single-hand video poker gaming machines that provide a player with the feeling that they have a better a chance of winning.